Perfect Fruit Cobbler Recipe

This old family recipe is the best cobbler I have EVER had. It's been served at countless dinners for friends and family, always with universal delight. Mom submitted it to a test kitchen and it was published in California Fresh, a cookbook assembled by the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay.
Read more It's positively scrumptious with just about any fresh fruit you find at the farmer's market or have falling off your trees. Traditionally cobbler is made with apples or peaches. See less

How to make it

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) In the oven, melt butter in a glass pan, without allowing it to brown.

In a bowl, mix flour, 1 cup sugar, and baking powder. Add milk and stir until combined but still slightly lumpy.

Pour the mixture over the melted butter in the glass pan. Pour fruit over the top. Don't mix it at all!! Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup sugar over the top. Bake for approximately 35 minutes until it is browning on the edges. If you like your cobbler really caramelly brown on top (I know I do), overbake it a little bit, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

Tip #1: If you're making an apple cobbler, you can use a little lemon juice sprinkled on the fruit to prevent it from browning while you're preparing the other ingredients, and it's nice to add a little cinnamon (about 1 tsp) to the dry ingredients.

Tip #2: There are many fruit variations possible, and I've never had one I didn't like. I can't emphasize enough what a difference it makes to use truly fresh fruit, right from the tree. Some of my favorite combinations are: Nectarine + Blackberry (my absolute favorite!); Peach + Blueberry; Apple; Peach; Plum; Cherry; Apricot; Blackberry

Tip #3: If you like an extra-crusty cobbler, you can make 1.5 times the batter while leaving the fruit amount constant.

Tip #4: In the interest of making a slightly healthier adaptation, I just tried a newfangled variation using half buckwheat flour and turbinado sugar in about 2/3 the amount called for above. It turned out pretty good, but not at all the pure sweet perfection of the original recipe. If I DO try a "healthier" version again, though, I think I'll reduce the butter too, because the buckwheat one didn't quite absorb all the butter in the bottom of the pan like the standard version. The turbinado sugar didn't seem to carmelize quite as effectively as the standard white sugar.